These war novels are so heartbreaking and just still so hard to fathom that this happened. I always learn so much when I read these stories. It always amazes me the endurance and strength people had in order to do things to save others and remain alive during the war. Another great novel based on a true story of resistance, persistence and selflessness. Another great historical war read. I always seem to find something new, I did not know before when I read these no matter how similar they can be. ( )

I was surprised by how hard it was for Bruce and Josefine to be together after the war finished but I am glad that they were finally able to get together. I love how their paths cross early in the story and then they come together again after they have both been through so much. It was sad how Bruce was treated after the war was finished by fellow veterans, family and friends, but I imagine that a lot of people didn't know how to react after the war was finished. Overall, a fantastic book and I highly recommend. ( )

The things we do for love... What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing your in-laws' prolific experiences. It sure makes one believe in true love again! ( )

Based on a true story inspired by the author’s own family, The Note Through the Wire is a compelling blend of history and romance set during World War II. The story unfolds in alternating chapters as told by both Bruce and Josefine.

Fighting for the New Zealanders in Greece, Bruce is wounded and captured by the Germans near Corinth. He spends the next four years in a German POW camp. Farmed out to work on a farm, he eventually meets Josefine. A Slovene partisan, she’s in hiding at the farm after a close friend betrays her anti-Nazi activities to the Nazis.

Woven throughout two tales of great bravery is the remarkable story of two ordinary people who find an unexpected love that overcomes war, distance, and the unimageable hardships of German-occupied Europe during WWII.

“I intended to write this book twenty years ago,” says the author in the Acknowledgements. He goes on to explain that the two main characters, New Zealander Bruce Murray and Slovene Josefine Lobnik, both died before their memoirs were ever recorded. So he reconstructs the story of how their love blossomed behind barbed wire during WWII via other sources.

A page-turner, for sure! ( )

Numerous books have been written to give us a glimpse of the atrocities that took place during WWII. This is another heart wrenching war story.

Yet, this is different. It's a true love story mixed in with some fictional names written with great passion.. It's dedicated to the main characters: Bruce Murray and Josefine Lobnik. They came from different parts of the world. Bruce decided to enter the war with his buddies in New Zealand. Josefine was in the thick of it with her family involvement in Slovenia part of the kingdom of Yugoslavia in the 1930s. They met by chance when she carefully and secretly gave Bruce a note asking for help when he was in a POW camp. He watched her on the other side of the wire not really sure what she was asking at the time. He didn't see her again until later at a different place when they just happened to meet again. What were the odds?

The book gives the reader a timeline of events from the beginning to the end of the war told with alternated stories told by Bruce and Josefine. For those that want a real picture of what happened, this is it. In Cairo, Bruce described the scent of rotting garbage, tobacco, unwashed bodies, spices and incense in the mix. He said bugs bit everyone at movies which made me cringe. Then after he was caught in Greece as a POW, he heard cries of the wounded, saw the pain of those dying and felt the profound grief when he lost his friends.

Josefine was warned to watch every word she said. They tortured her family and friends. Women were at times raped and killed afterwards. No one knew from one day to the next if they would survive. She had to keep moving to find safety for her life. It was the most challenging tests of life with families wiped out and children separated from their parents. "No one seemed to know how long they were going to endure these conditions." Josephine was a part of the partisan movement to pass along messages and help the prisoners. The first rule of survival was to trust no one - not even your best friends.

Bruce summed it up by saying there's no justice. It was a continued state of suffering from 1939 to 1945. Then after the war, people had to adjust and recreate their lives which took time and patience. This book - as many others - are important for us to read. It's the only way we can understand our past and hopefully prevent it from happening again. It was evident that the author did a considerable amount of work to make this book historically accurate. ( )